Ford will promote graduate education across Grounds,
acting as a leader for pan-University graduate
student issues, and ensuring that qualified and
diverse
graduate students
are attracted to the University.

She
will advocate for the fair and equitable support of these
students.
Most graduate student affairs work is now conducted at the level of schools
and departments. This will continue, she said, but, “My role will be to enhance
those efforts by operating a central office serving as a resource for graduate
students and graduate student issues. We will be a centralized point of contact.

“I’m enthusiastic about enhancing and facilitating our graduate student
recruitment ... to get the best students interested in U.Va.,” she said.

“We
need to be fully competitive with the top graduate schools.”

She says she wants to increase financial support, especially
for students interested in interdisciplinary research,
and she will work to bring down
barriers that
limit research collaboration between disciplines.

“As
a comprehensive University we are in a good position to attract
more bright students who are interested in solving big-picture
problems, working across the
disciplines,” she said.

The past few years she has been involved in two highly successful
training grant programs that support biotechnology research
and work in contaminant
hydrogeology.
These grants, from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science
Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education, support programs in the
School of Medicine,
the College of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied
Science.

Ford will seek additional training grants to support research
fellowships. She also will serve as a contact point
with other universities, responding
to inquiries
about graduate student issues at the University and keeping up to date
on issues concerning and affecting state universities.

Ford also will look more closely at job placement and internships
by maintaining a network of contacts in industry and
especially in local and regional
enterprises. In addition, she plans to focus on maintaining and strengthening
ties with
recent alumni.

“I
am excited that I was able to attract a person with Roseanne’s expertise
and experience to join my team,” Gomez said. “I look forward to Roseanne
partnering with the school graduate deans, Provost’s office and faculty
to enhance graduate studies activity at the University.”

Ford joined U.Va.’s faculty in 1989 and has served the past four years
as a member of the Faculty Senate on the research and scholarship committee.
She also has been associate chair of chemical engineering and twice the department’s
graduate program director. She will continue to teach graduate and undergraduate
students and conduct research half-time, while fulfilling her role as associate
vice president.

“I’m not ready to fully abandon my own teaching and research,” she
said. “But I also want to enhance these activities for our students and
faculty.”